However, patents can be vague and broadly worded in nature, and in some cases, even describe things that have already been invented.

Comedian Marc Marron, who has one of the most popular podcasts in the country, does not see the funny side to the patents.

"Especially [for] the people who are working out of their garage, or you, who are trying to start your podcast," Mr Marron said.

"All of a sudden this company, this troll company, is going to shake you down to extort money from you."

Personal Audio does not make anything but rather has a group of patents that describe what we now call podcasting, based on a description it filed with the US Patent Office in 1996.

For this reason the defence will be simple, Mr Nazer says.

"They didn't really invent podcasting," he said.

"The challenge is for podcasting in 1996 were hardware challenges and challenges about bandwidth, distributing large files through the primitive internet.

"Their patent addresses none of those issues, so when they say they failed to actually produce a commercial product, that's because they didn't do any of the hard work that led to the podcasting that we know today."

There are currently five bills before the US Congress to crack down on the number of patent lawsuits being brought in the US.